SepangFanatic"In wet conditions a quick pit stop time is strongly affected by how well a driver can top on his marks and get away when he is released. That plus quick pit work equals the best stop – and it was Pastor Maldonado and the Williams team who were the fastest in Sepang"
-f1fanatic.com

Oh yeah, that's when he missed his pit box. His pitstop was so fast that they didn't even have time to change the tyres.

iWITNESS: Bruno Senna welcomed the red flag after eight laps of today’s race. He’d opted for a dark visor for the original race start, believing the conditions would clear up and the sun would come out. That clearly wasn’t going to happen and the 45-minute interlude gave his physio James Miligan a chance to return to the Williams hospitality area to collect his spare helmet, complete with its clear visor. Every cloud has a clear visor in F1!

Didn't post yesterday, although I read most of the comments and some of the dumb whining.

Senna did a great job and Pastor had some bad luck. Some silly mistakes but Williams was not the exception by any means. So a good weekend all in all. On to China, let's hope for a dry race and some solid running.

iWITNESS: Bruno Senna welcomed the red flag after eight laps of today’s race. He’d opted for a dark visor for the original race start, believing the conditions would clear up and the sun would come out. That clearly wasn’t going to happen and the 45-minute interlude gave his physio James Miligan a chance to return to the Williams hospitality area to collect his spare helmet, complete with its clear visor. Every cloud has a clear visor in F1!

So he couldn't see where he was going when he hit Pastor!

True! I think Pastor has a wrong choice with his visor. With dark visor in these conditions you can't see almost nothing. I know from my experience, ouccchhhhhhhh! ; )

It's very easy to wear your heart on your sleeve during GP's. I felt exactly the same as francesc, Greenmachine and drunkmunkey yesterday. The fact is, we have an exciting, frustrating driver line up, and this was known to all when they were signed. They bring money, and demonstrate the FW34's improved form, but they are not capable of consistently traslating the car's potential into the best results, which is why I don't expect Williams to better 7th this year. An ode to 2011.

One day on, and a few thoughts to share;

1) Wasn't it FANTASTIC to witness Perez hunting Alonso down for the victory, whilst both Williams drivers carved their way through the field into the points? Thrilling stuff. Gutted Perez threw it away. Seeing a Sauber overtake Alonso's Ferrari for the victory would have been legendary.

2) I was impressed with the lines Senna picked in the wet and the enterprising style of his overtaking.

3) The apologies from Remi Taffin and Laurent Debout of Renault for the engine failure was a nice touch.

4) @ speed, this is NOT the best driver line up since 2006. Last years' line up was better. 2010's was better. Criticism where criticism is due. Neither driver has managed a clean race weekend yet, and tbh, I wasnt expecting them to, nor do I expect them to. Both drivers are very amateurish, despite being of a reasonable age with reasonable F1 experience. This has left Williams miles behind Farrari and Sauber in the Constructors Championship, and still behind Force India. They are the weak link in the team and I see no reason why this pattern should change. If they can summon the discipline to outpoint Force India and Toro Rosso in the Constructors Championship, they will have exceeded my expectations. IMHO, Merecedes WILL find a a way to manage their tyres and even if they don't, their drivers will find a way to score more points than Williams. As for Sauber, they are ahead because their drivers are more disciplined, and I don't see why this should change. As I see it, Williams are looking at 7th, with plenty of fun, frustration and excitement along the way, which is p+2 on 2011 and not a disaster. This technical line up are establishing a good level of performance for the team, but the financial hit for 2011 was taken on the driver front, and we will just have to put up with it. I think we need to accept that this year will be a rollercoaster and that F1 is not about the pace of the car translating into perfect results- See Alonso leading the championship as evidence of that.

5) On the "Maldonado vs Senna" debate, IMO Senna is not underrated. I am cooly neutural towards both drivers, but the fact is, Senna has been comprehensively outpaced by Maldonado in every dry session this year. Senna has admitted he needs to improve his dry weather pace. He does have potential, but lets be honest, Maldonado is the faster driver right now. In the drying conditions, Senna found himself infront because he made his critical error before the safety car and Maldonado made his after. In drying conditions, both drivers can put their pace down to the FW34's gentleness on tyres- in this case, the intermediates.

Anyway, roll on China, traditionally a miserable hunting ground for Williams! Lets hope for something to smile about this year.

The drivers are doing pretty much exactly what I expected of them sadly. This is the cost of the path Williams has taken.

The one thing I take heart from is the fact that The FW34 has migrated itself to the points *despite* the very best efforts of it's drivers. Maldonado is more adept at going quickly and making mistakes, but it seems the you can't keep a goo car down.

It seems we are easy on tyres without struggling to turn them on which will be useful all year.

I do see a fraustrating year ahead though, as the drivers squander results while our rivals excel with promising driver lineups.

I hope the team is in a position to promote Bottas next year. I still think the kid is the real deal.

TerraNova19Pancho Pepe: I respect you passion for Williams and Maldonado!

Thanks mate. I prefer to keep an optimistic mind about the future of the team.

I have followed Pastor since he was in the World Renault Series, and it has been frustrating to see his good speed nullified by silly errors, but the guy has really progressed quite well. When he defeated Sergio Pérez in GP2 and took the title, he did it making almost no mistakes that season, so, he has come a long way.

I'm sure that when the guy gets a bit more F1 experience, he will deliver great results for Williams. Montoya-like, I am sure.

We are going to do a lot better than what some folks think.

In a sense its better to have low expectations and then achieve good results, than the opposite (as last year).

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net